U.S. probes strike on Iran's wedding party: Vance

A boy holds up a poster in a memorial event held to mourn the students of an elementary school who were killed in a missile strike in southern Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 7, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday the United States is probing a strike that Tehran says hit a wedding party in southern Iran, renewing scrutiny over civilian casualties from U.S. military operations in the Middle East country.

"We're investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know," Vance said at a White House press briefing.

"If we do make mistakes, again, this is a big difference between us and Iran, when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them," he added.

U.S. Central Command spokesperson Tim Hawkins said Wednesday the U.S. military was looking into reports of the wedding party strike.

The Iranian media reported Wednesday that the U.S. strike on Tuesday night hit a wedding party in Sirik County in Hormozgan province, killing at least four people and injuring 68 others.

According to the reports, a U.S. missile struck a home where dozens of people had gathered for the wedding of a fisherman's daughter.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday described the attack as "a desperate U.S. attempt to hide its defeat."

On Feb. 28, the opening day of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, a strike hit a girls' elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing 168 people, most of them children, according to Iranian authorities. Evidence from subsequent investigations has pointed to a U.S. Tomahawk missile as the weapon used in the strike.

This photo taken on April 6, 2026 shows a recreated scene of a classroom at a memorial event held to mourn the students of an elementary school who were killed in a missile strike in southern Iran, in Tehran, Iran. (Xinhua/Shadati)